Wading in the Water: A Grief and Loss Community Healing Event

Black folks in Philadelphia have a lot to grieve right now. The magnitude of current gun violence in Philadelphia, the recent racially motivated acts of violence around the country, the continued murder of unarmed Black people by the police, the disconnection from community experienced as a result of COVID-19, and the overturn of Roe v. Wade, in addition to the many personal losses so many of us have faced, all constitute a need for Black Philadelphians to acknowledge these wounds, process them, and develop adaptive ways to grieve them, both individually and collectively. Wading in the Water: A Grief and Loss Community Healing Event will be an interactive space in which Black mental health clinicians, Sam Rucker, MA, NCC, LPC, Kevin Hubbard, M.Ed., LPC, CMIP, and Kimberly Ashby, PhD, along with musician, community activist, and meditation leader, Sam Rise, will invite Black community members to engage in community grief rituals that honor those who have allowed us to get to the point we are at today. This in-person event will provide the space for attendees to remember who and what they have lost, engage in reflective writing and group discussion, and participate in ancestral traditions, such as community music and song. We ask that attendees bring a special item that can act as a tool for care and/or something with which to remember their ancestors.

This event is part of the Black Paradise Project. To learn more, visit www.blackparadiseproject.com

Facilitators:

Kimberly M. Ashby, PhDSam Rucker, MA, NCC, LPCKevin Hubbard, M.Ed., LPC, CMIPSam Rise